Sorry if I am missing something, I have had a pretty extensive look around these forums, and as far as I am aware there isn't a rat book...so I'm wondering if there is a collection of "stuff" that is anywhere to be found that goes into more detail on rat culture and the caste system / caste benefits etc over and above the brief para in one of the books that explains the clans and breeds?

Sorry if I am missing something, I have had a pretty extensive look around these forums, and as far as I am aware there isn't a rat book...so I'm wondering if there is a collection of "stuff" that is anywhere to be found that goes into more detail on rat culture and the caste system / caste benefits etc over and above the brief para in one of the books that explains the clans and breeds?

Ta muchly in advance

Chris

There's a bit in the Realm of Glass book and a bit more in the Divine Guidance book under Slavik (the rat deity).

Or there's about six million words somewhere on Lee dale's PC because he wrote the original rat dungeons.

Ok...the fact that they got wiped out totally makes sense, given that there are a [----] load of them still adventuring! I understand the limited info, and yeah perhaps a whole book is not warranted but more than the scant few para's that are out there right now would be really useful from my point of view.

Ok...the fact that they got wiped out totally makes sense, given that there are a [----] load of them still adventuring! I understand the limited info, and yeah perhaps a whole book is not warranted but more than the scant few para's that are out there right now would be really useful from my point of view.

Short version.

About 11 years ago....

There was a powerful NPC druid called Kith Kaharn who created the ratfolk.He got fired from his job by the EmpireHe let the ratfolk loose to cause troubleThere was some negotiation and the KotL agreed to build a city for the rats to live in to keep them out of trouble.A bloke called Thorgrimm attacked the city builders and killed lots of them so the city was never built.The rats whinged about how the knights betrayed them.Lee Dale ran lots of dungeons full of really evil rats for various guilds, including KotL & ICOBKotL and ICOB killed lots of rats on dungeon, mostly involving incredibly evil rats blowing up innocent cities with big bombs.Some people who were in KotL and ICOB killed lots of rats in Heroes as well.I blew up Kith Kaharn's private extra-planar holiday cottage just to make sure.Lee ran a "let's finish the rat plot" themeday, which killed all the LRP rats.Jasper had a Heroes turn which said "you have killed every last rat in existence. They're all dead. There are no more ratfolk."Kith Kaharn got killed at least twice in Heroes (I missed him in LRP - damn you BBB...).

Then the purple book got published with ratfolk as a playable race, negating 90% of the above.

Ah, ok...well that makes a lot of sense then :s Thank you so much Lucy that clears a lot of issues up for me

So essentially, ratfolk should NOT really be a playable race! Given that there are a lot out there still adventuring and they aren't currently an outlawed race (to a degree) then either one or two got missed and they bred like...well...rats...or something else happened?

I can see how having played this campaign both from a live and a Heroes pov it must be quite sucky that anyone can now turn up and start rat characters.

I guess having started a semi-group based on rats not knowing any of the above this makes things a bit...odd...the very last thing I want to do is break the background so I think we need to work something out here

Lucy synopsis is pretty good and only lacks the background relating to their current existence.

Rats are survivors, they can survive apparent extinction. The reason that they all appeared to have been exterminated was simply those too stupid to hide were butchered, those clever enough to hide were never seen. I.e. no more were found thus it was believed no more existed, proving the non-existence of something being, well pretty difficult, even in the modern world having supposedly extinct species being discovered, Ceolocanth's anyone?

Later, their numbers restored, they came out of hiding and the Magistrate of Thimon came to an arrangement whereby the rats were not considered outlawed in the city (that byelaw still stands) so the rats poured into Thimon and up from the undercity of Thimon to become respectable members of Thimonese society where they were protected by law. ventually the Senate saw fit to remove the outlawing on the entire race but by this time they had become well entrenched in Thimon.

The Ratfolk, however, are short lived and generations have come and gone passing down tales, fair or otherwise, of their butchery and betrayal at the hands of the Knights of the Land and they share a generational / genetic memory, that is passed down and what they perceive as being hard done by due to the Knights has somewhat formed part of their identity and the legends of their forebears.

Rats, Cockroaches, nigh on impossible to wipe out. The Ratgod, at least in Laby terms, is all about suriving the unsurvivable.

The history of Kaharn goes on a little further, him, having some measure of vitae rebirthed at least once and was re-created at least once.

BBB

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Grey's Law: Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice...

PS, Yes, I know my PM Box is full. Email me instead... (Which you can do through the forums email)

There might have been some people that went around following the evil KOTL and restoring the poor little rats back to life...

I had the strangest feeling you might have been involved with their inexplicable failure to become extinct.

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Ben-==-AKA Bane: just another Human Warrior: 1512pts post 8thAlso Sargon "Where have all the cakes gone?" of Cloud Way; Retterchen, the faerie mystic; and J.B., an unspecified scout subclass.On an extended break from active caving while rebuilding a house, but still unable to resist delicious yellow paper speculation.Standard disclaimer applies.

Personally I like the fact that not too many people play them, and the system is not overrun with the little buggers, it kinda plays on the history that the rest were in hiding when the KOTL etc, etc chopped them all up.

And the survivability element to them makes for a few nice pts apps too, go Mathercurdle !

Is it still correct as per RoG that (outside Thimon) three breeds of rats are outlawed and two are not? I am thinking of caslevasp (longhairs) and winterscorn as not being outlawed, and capultavel, altunhurst and the other one being outlawed (though Altunhurst undetectably so in human form). Or has this been superseded by IC changes? In which case have the guild-joining restrictions changed?

Cheers

Matt

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OOC:- Matt West

IC:- A. bin Razil of the Carrion Scavengers Hetyan (Ishmaic Onyx Wizard and Knight of the Land, suitable for a Max 1500); Yosh (monastically trained knife-thrower, suitable for a Max 2k, semi-retired); Hassan bin Kassim of the Perished Sands Hetyan (mage, suitable for a Max 1500); Haram of the Blackened Bones Hetyan (please smile for the crazy evil witch!) (suitable for a Max 750); Flaig (Pilgrim of the Forge, around the 500 mark, played on Borderwatch guild specials); "Murk" ('the Mercenary formerly known as "Sunflower"') (as featured in Primal Times No. 24) ("suitable" for a Max 1K, allegedly); Sahra bin Flambo of the Placid Waters Hetyan (290 points of fire and spear, plus any monster points; "Sahra" means "Desert"); various others

Is it still correct as per RoG that (outside Thimon) three breeds of rats are outlawed and two are not? I am thinking of caslevasp (longhairs) and winterscorn as not being outlawed, and capultavel, altunhurst and the other one being outlawed (though Altunhurst undetectably so in human form). Or has this been superseded by IC changes? In which case have the guild-joining restrictions changed?

Cheers

Matt

They have been de-outlawed by the Senate. It should be in the errata somewhere.they are not able to join guilds unless the guild in question buys a benefit that state that they can (e.g. Natural Trust)